The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-09-23

would barely be paid for the feed,
nothing for labor, and that the drover
who sold them IL cattle in the fall and
bought them in the spring is the fellow
who made the money. But not to run
away from my question, let US 60 into a
little calculation, and see how we get
out. Suppose, for example, the Lam
caster county farmer pays three and a
half cents for cattle weighing 1000
pounds this fall. and to answer the
question in few words, without going
into details, l say they should not and
cannot afford to pay more than that
figure, and then they should have good
stock-stock that will take weight.
Now, then, farmer buys ten head of
cattle at the above rate. Thirty five
dollars each is $3.50 cash down. 1t
was always supposed that one cent per
pound was fair advance. Supposine
this to be the basis, let us say we have
400 pounds of an increase in six months
feeding. We will now consider that
they are on pasture the first month and
five months in the stall. They would
come out 1,400 pounds each at four
and a-half cents per pound, making s63
a head, or $500 for the ten head
This would be profit of $2S apiece, or
$3.50 Now, can we afford to feed them
for that money? l think we can, but
without profit. I think ten steers
should have, in short feed, 400 bushels
of corn, or forty bushels per head; that,
at SO cents, is 5000, and four tons of
bran at SIS per ton, $50, making $3.50.
Then the interest on $3.50 for six
months is S2l, thus making S28l of
expense, to say nothing of long feed,
the labor of feeding and any extras that
may come in. The farmer is generally
satisfied to get out even on this plan.
"Now, the above figures are a fair
average Of Lancaster county cattle feed
ing, and you see that dollar advance
would not let the farmer quite out. He
also runs risk; the average farmer
nearly every season loses a steer by
death in some way or other and he is
that much out of pocket, SO that when
even he gets $3.50 advance on stable
full of steers, after all is done and said,
he has not as much profit as the man
that has worked for day or two in the
fall of the year and again for that length
of time in the spring of the year. The
farmer ought to be governed by the
prices that he is likely TO get in the
spring of the year when he sells the
stock, and from present indications it is
more than likely that the farmers will
have to sell such cattle as above describ.
ed next spring for $3.50 per hundred
pounds, and therefore to leave a small
profit should not pay over cents per
pound for them at the present time.
The question admits of many other
things that might be taken in consider.
alton, but time will hardly permit their
discussion here F.: railroad discrimination
in freight rates and the competition
from the West used in the past to work
with a great deal Of force against the
Eastern cattle feeder, and it is only
question of time whether the new law
will change these for the better; but
one thing is sure not to make the pros
pect any brighter for the Lancaster
county cattle feeder, and that is the
immense amount of meat ready for use
that is shipped to our Eastern markets,
where freight is paid only on every
pound that is used and no more, while
your farmers of Lancaster county pay
the freight in the fall of the year for
every pound Of water, manure, hide,
hair and horns from the West, and
again to the Eastern market in the
spring, and the result is you cannot go
in competition with an arrangement of
that kind unless you have your stock at
very reasonable figure, so low that
you can get at least $l.50 for every
hundred pounds more than you pay for
them, and you can, in very short
time, count upon your fingers the
money that you make by the transac-
tion."
Mr.. Kendig said that as We feed a
great deal of bran to our cattle and as
this is worth $l4 in the dropp'ngs, we
have more to our credit than the essay
ist allows.